Annie's maturation is objectively the most routine of processes, but it is so strongly felt by the child herself, and as narrator she brings such a wealth of inference to it, that it seems to be the paradigm of tragedy and epic. It does not overtly remind the reader of other deeply felt tragedies and epics as much as it resonates with similar vibrations while purporting to be nothing more than a very particular record of a very particular childhood.
In later works Kincaid expresses more specifically political ideas and emotions about Antigua, class, race, illegitimacy, colonialism, Aids, and other topics that some readers may find informative in the context of Annie John or of Kincaid as a writer who is also a representative figure of her time and place. But the genius of this particular novel is that whatever those ideas are, the author doesn't use them as any kind of explanatory reference in accounting for Annie's successive states of mind.
Like most children, she exists outside of time. Her life is all of life and her world is the whole world. Her view of things recapitulates the way the world works and the way human psychology works, and subtly comments upon political and social ideas if the reader wants it to.
Like The Trial, Annie John expands into larger meaning or doesn't, depending upon the reader's frame of reference. It is more likely to expand than not, but it also works on its apparent terms - a simple story of a particular girl in an out-of-the-way place.
Annie is a figure of both sympathy and empathy - even when her emotions seem inappropriate, she is so honest about them and she evokes them in such detail that the reader stays right with her. This isn't a simple story about abusive mothers, or about rebellious daughters, or about happy go-lucky familial love.
Does that sound dry or academic? It's anything but. In the series of vignettes that make up Annie John , we see adoring love, cold refusal, vitriolic anger and the contemplation of murder. Everything that our protagonist Annie John does yup, like the subject matter, the title of Annie John is deceptively simple is in some way shaped by her relationship to her mother.
This book will challenge the way you feel about identity and family dynamics. It gives you an insider's look into the mind of an adolescent that is both totally familiar and totally alienating. You'll laugh, you'll get squeamish, and you'll get furious with the injustices of puberty all over again.
And sure, you'll probably mull over your own relationships with your Mommy or Mommy figures. You might even want to call he up to check in with her. But hey—pro tip—when Mother's Day rolls around, don't send her a copy of Annie John.
Send Mommy another one of Jamaica Kinkaid's eleven published books instead. It's not just Norman Bates that has mommy issues. It's not just Hamlet. It's not just Tupac. In fact, as Annie John proves, mommy issues aren't just about mothers and sons.
They're about mothers and daughters, too. Annie John and her mommy dearest don't see eye to eye, and it all comes down to their perception of themselves in relation to each other. Basically, Mama John sees her identity validated by her daughter's actions, and Annie John sees her identity challenged by her mom's actions… and vice versa. As Annie John takes place in the s, it remains in the colonial period. Kincaid explores the colonial relationship particularly through her discussion of the school that Annie attends.
It is run as a British institution and all the materials taught in the school deal with English literature, history, and culture. The girls dress in a formal British style and they are discouraged from engaging in local activities, such as calypso dancing in the playground.
Annie's musing on the failure of the school to discuss the negative history of slavery and her delight in the imprisonment of Columbus highlight the ways in which the school teaches the students not to question the history and social order that is being handed down to them. Annie excels in her school, which shows that she has learned all of the skills necessary to prove her intellectual and social worth in the colonial world.
However, her spunky behavior behind the teachers' backs shows that her feisty Antiguan spirit still thrives within. Although Annie's father appears a gentle and reticent man, he serves as a testament to the unequal gender relations in Antigua. Annie's father is about thirty years older than his wife. He had numerous sexual affairs before marrying Annie's mother and the women with whom he slept frequently harass Annie's mother on the street.
Now that he has his married life secured, he provides for the family while his wife takes care of his domestic and sexual needs. While as a man Annie's father could philander, Annie's mother interprets Annie's mere discussion with a group of boys as inappropriate sexual misconduct and calls her a "slut.
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